AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine House and Senate unanimously passed a bill approving the creation of a semi-municipal ambulance service for Mars Hill, Blaine, Bridgewater and E Plantation on Thursday.
The vote came about a month after Sen. Mike Carpenter, D-Houlton, introduced LD 2050, creating the Central Aroostook Ambulance Service, and with each of the rural, aging communities only two months away from losing ambulance service completely.
The legislation will go to the desk of Maine Gov. Janet Mills, whose office has previously expressed support for the bill. It will be enacted immediately after being signed, after which the ambulance service will be able to begin operations, including purchasing equipment, in preparation for it taking over coverage in April.
Sen. Carpenter, who sponsored the bill, has been inextricably linked to the ambulance service issue since local community leaders proposed it in December.
“These folks from Blaine, Bridgewater and Mars Hill have stepped up to bring ambulance services back to their towns,” Carpenter said in a press release. “I am glad that the Legislature has shown such overwhelming support for this bill because we need to protect the people of these towns.”
In April 2019, Bridgewater, Blaine and Mars Hill signed a contract with Northern Light Medical Transport specifying that it provides ambulance coverage to each of those municipalities until 2024. But on Aug. 21, Northern Light utilized an opt-out clause to inform the communities they would cease providing service after Dec. 31, 2019.
Around that time, Northern Light A.R. Gould Hospital President Greg LaFrancois said that there weren’t enough calls in the region to keep maintaining coverage viable. Northern Light eventually agreed to cover Mars Hill and surrounding communities until April 19, 2020.
Local leaders initially announced the proposal for the ambulance service at a public event on Dec. 18. The local governments of Blaine, Bridgewater and Mars Hill approved the plan by Jan. 6. Sen. Carpenter brought the bill before the Legislature on Jan. 21.
Three Aroostook County state representatives also co-sponsored the legislation: Rep. Chris Johansen, R-Monticello, Rep. Harold Stewart, R-Presque Isle, and Dustin White, R-Washburn.
There was no roll call vote on the legislation, with the bill passing after no members of the Legislature stated their opposition.
